Communication channels in the animal world include touch, sound, sight, and scent. Electric eels even use electric pulses. Ravens also are very expressive. By a combination voice, patterns of feather erection and body posture ravens communicate so clearly that an experienced observer can identify anger, affection, hunger, curiosity, playfulness, fright, boldness, and depression.
—Mind of the Raven ,
Bernd Heinrich

 transmission medium is the physical path between transmitter and receiver

 guided media – guided along a solid medium unguided media – atmosphere, space, water
 characteristics and quality determined by medium and signal

 guided media - medium is more important unguided media - bandwidth produced by the antenna is more important
 key concerns are data rate and distance

bandwidth
• higher bandwidth gives higher data rate transmission impairments
• impairments, such as attenuation, limit the distance interference
• overlapping frequency bands can distort or wipe out a signal number of receivers
• more receivers introduces more attenuation

Frequency
Range
0 to 3.5 kHz
Typical
Attenuation
0.2 dB/km @
1 kHz
Typical
Delay
50 µs/km Twisted pair
(with loading)
Twisted pairs
(multi-pair cables)
0 to 1 MHz 0.7 dB/km @
1 kHz
Coaxial cable 0 to 500 MHz 7 dB/km @ 10
MHz
Optical fiber 186 to 370
THz
0.2 to 0.5 dB/km
5 µs/km
4 µs/km
5 µs/km
Repeater
Spacing
2 km
2 km
1 to 9 km
40 km

1GHz to
40GHz
• referred to as microwave frequencies
• highly directional beams are possible
• suitable for point to point transmissions
• also used for satellite
3 0MHz to
1GHz
• suitable for omnidirectional applications
• referred to as the radio range
3 x 10 11
2 x 10 14 to
• infrared portion of the spectrum
• useful to local point-to-point and multipoint applications within confined areas

transmission antenna radiated into surrounding environment converted to electromagnetic energy by antenna radio frequency energy from transmitter
reception antenna fed to receiver
 electrical conductors used to radiate or collect electromagnetic energy converted to radio frequency electrical energy electromagnetic energy impinging on antenna
 same antenna is often used for both purposes

 power radiated in all directions
 does not perform equally well in all directions
 as seen in a radiation pattern diagram
 an isotropic antenna is a point in space that radiates power
 in all directions equally
 with a spherical radiation pattern

 measure of the directionality of an antenna
 power output in particular direction verses that produced by an isotropic antenna
 measured in decibels (dB)
 results in loss in power in another direction
 effective area relates to physical size and shape

most common type is a parabolic dish with an antenna focusing a narrow beam onto a receiving antenna located at substantial heights above ground to extend range and transmit over obstacles uses a series of microwave relay towers with point-to-point microwave links to achieve long distance transmission

 used for long haul telecommunications, short point-to-point links between buildings and cellular systems
 used for both voice and TV transmission
 fewer repeaters but requires line of sight transmission
 1-40GHz frequencies, with higher frequencies having higher data rates
 main source of loss is attenuation caused mostly by distance, rainfall and interference

 a communication satellite is in effect a microwave relay station
 used to link two or more ground stations
 receives on one frequency, amplifies or repeats signal and transmits on another frequency
 frequency bands are called transponder channels
 requires geo-stationary orbit

 rotation match occurs at a height of 35,863km at the equator need to be spaced at least 3 ° - 4 ° apart to avoid interfering with each other
 spacing limits the number of possible satellites

 uses: private business networks
• satellite providers can divide capacity into channels to lease to individual business users television distribution
• programs are transmitted to the satellite then broadcast down to a number of stations which then distributes the programs to individual viewers
• Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) transmits video signals directly to the home user global positioning
• Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS)

 the optimum frequency range for satellite transmission is 1 to 10 GHz
• lower has significant noise from natural sources
• higher is attenuated by atmospheric absorption and precipitation
 satellites use a frequency bandwidth range of
5.925 to 6.425 GHz from earth to satellite (uplink) and a range of 3.7 to 4.2 GHz from satellite to earth (downlink)
• this is referred to as the 4/6-GHz band
• because of saturation the 12/14-GHz band has been developed
(uplink: 14 - 14.5 GHz; downlink: 11.7 - 12.2 GH

 radio is the term used to encompass frequencies in the range of 3kHz to 300GHz
 broadcast radio (30MHz - 1GHz) covers
• FM radio
• UHF and VHF television
• data networking applications
 omnidirectional
 limited to line of sight
 suffers from multipath interference
 reflections from land, water, man-made objects

 achieved using transceivers that modulate noncoherent infrared light
 transceivers must be within line of sight of each other directly or via reflection
 does not penetrate walls
 no licenses required
 no frequency allocation issues
 typical uses:
• TV remote control

 ground wave propagation follows the contour of the earth and can propagate distances well over the visible horizon
 this effect is found in frequencies up to 2MHz
 the best known example of ground wave communication is AM radio

 sky wave propagation is used for amateur radio, CB radio, and international broadcasts such as BBC and Voice of America
 a signal from an earth based antenna is reflected from the ionized layer of the upper atmosphere back down to earth
 sky wave signals can travel through a number of hops, bouncing back and for the between the ionosphere and the earth’s surface

 ground and sky wave propagation modes do not operate above 30
MHz - - communication must be by line of sight

 velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of the density of the medium through which it travels
• ~3 x 10 8 m/s in vacuum, less in anything else
 speed changes with movement between media
 index of refraction (refractive index) is
 sine(incidence)/sine(refraction)
 varies with wavelength
 gradual bending
 density of atmosphere decreases with height, resulting in bending of radio waves towards earth

Free space loss
• loss of signal with distance
Atmospheric
Absorption
• from water vapor and oxygen absorption
Multipath
• multiple interfering signals from reflections
Refraction
• bending signal away from receiver

 transmission Media
• physical path between transmitter and receiver
• bandwidth, transmission impairments, interference, number of receivers
 guided Media
• twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber
 wireless Transmission
• microwave frequencies
• antennas, terrestrial microwave, satellite microwave, broadcast radio
 wireless Propagation
• ground wave, sky wave, line of sight